Hi

I've head the dreaded flashing glowplug light on and off for a bit now. It always comes on/goes into limp mode within seconds of starting up. Drive for a few minutes, stop and restart and most times things are fine.

However, I *thought* there was no smoke until I got a friend to rev the engine, and I watched this terrible black smoke churning out of the exhaust.

A local mechanic went into some detail about it being oil that has dropped into the turbo/pipes (which could explain oil present on the pipes towards the front underside of the car), and gone through the catalytic converter etc. He said the whole things needs cleaning out, pipes etc, possible catalytic converter and turbo replacement, the works. He has suggested some sort of additive to try to help?!

Does this sound about right? Any other possible things I could try? I'm wondering if this smoke/oil problem is connected to the glowplug light. Of course I'll get the codes read etc but I'm on an extremely tight budget at the moment and need every penny i can keep hold of.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Danj

see if these attached help

tom

Thanks Tommy, I'll have a good look at them tomorrow. I hope it is something simple like the EGR, the mechanic was going into great detail about the turbo and the cat, and how much they'll cost to replace!

As an aside, when the thick black smoke had subsided, there was oil present in the exhaust - does this have any bearing on the possible cause?

Hi Danj

don't know if the oil in exhaust is anything to go by. but try the smell test is it unburnt diesel?
just hope that there is something in my post that helps.
have you tried using some fuel aditive such as Millers (i use it all the time) it does seem to make a difference.

tom

also check for any splits in the intercooler pipe its the large pipe on the bottom of the egr valve.

egr valve i think, give it a good clean